The Georgia Ports Authority achieved outstanding January results, with double-digit growth across all business sectors and a 26 percent increase in total tonnage.

The Georgia Ports Authority marked 12.3 percent container volume growth in December, moving 292,172 twenty-foot equivalent container units, an increase of 32,099 TEUs compared to December 2015, a record for the GPA. Roll-on/Roll-off cargo mirrored that growth, with a 12.3 percent increase (7,000 units) in passenger vehicles and heavy equipment handled at Colonel’s Island terminal in Brunswick and Ocean Terminal in Savannah. Georgia’s deepwater ports moved 63,967 Ro/Ro units last month. 

The Savannah River channel reopened for commercial traffic Wednesday morning at 7 a.m. with 11 vessels transiting the channel by mid-afternoon, nine of which will be worked at Garden City Terminal and two at Ocean Terminal. 

In the annual Savannah State of the Port address, Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Griff Lynch detailed a new strategic rail initiative, ‘GPA’s Mid-American Arc,’ and welcomed Floor & Decor’s announcement of Phase 1 of a 2.5 million square-foot distribution center complex.

The annual volume of vehicles currently built in Mexico is approximately 3.2 million. With planned expansions of manufacturing facilities, production levels will increase to over 5 million vehicles per year by 2018. This expansion will mean a growing need for both rail and short-sea transit to reach the U.S. markets.

 

To accommodate this growth, the government of Mexico and private companies are set to improve road and rail systems to the ports of Veracruz, Tuxpan, Altimira and Tampico. Mexico’s transport and communications ministry is developing 25 port projects across Mexico, constituting an investment of more than $4.1 billion.